diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 6e8bf73..0ea3a94 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.1.0
+0.2.0
diff --git a/docs/newmatic_demo.html b/docs/newmatic_demo.html
index 8b356df..c203f68 100644
--- a/docs/newmatic_demo.html
+++ b/docs/newmatic_demo.html
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@
 
 <span class="comment">% get the file size</span>
 native_complete_file_size = dir(native_complete_file).bytes/1024/1024;
-</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Native-complete, write: 3.334 s
-Native-complete, read: 0.728 s
+</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Native-complete, write: 3.264 s
+Native-complete, read: 0.716 s
 </pre><h2 id="3">Partial read/write with native MATLAB tools</h2><p>Now let's try using native MATLAB matfile() to do read and write the data one image at a time (i.e., partial IO). This is the real use case we are interested in.</p><pre class="codeinput"><span class="comment">% get a temporary file name</span>
 native_partial_file = [tempname, <span class="string">'.mat'</span>];
 native_partial_cleanup = onCleanup(@() delete(native_partial_file));
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@
 
 <span class="comment">% get the file size</span>
 native_partial_file_size = dir(native_partial_file).bytes/1024/1024;
-</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Native-partial, write: 52.339 s
-Native-partial, read: 4.126 s
+</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Native-partial, write: 52.359 s
+Native-partial, read: 3.698 s
 </pre><h2 id="4">Partial read/write with newmatic</h2><p>Now for the good stuff. Let's use <tt>newmatic</tt> to create our file, and then read and write the data one image at a time. We will choose a chunk size that neatly matches our planned access pattern (i.e, an image).</p><pre class="codeinput"><span class="comment">% get a temporary file name</span>
 newmatic_partial_file = [tempname, <span class="string">'.mat'</span>];
 newmatic_partial_cleanup = onCleanup(@() delete(newmatic_partial_file));
@@ -153,9 +153,8 @@
 
 <span class="comment">% get the file size</span>
 newmatic_partial_file_size = dir(newmatic_partial_file).bytes/1024/1024;
-</pre><pre class="codeoutput">h5repack -i /tmp/tp03fd088e_f895_4664_81d7_9d2275dd7f72.mat -o /tmp/tpf6e2a598_4fd5_430c_8baf_c2a1aac9cb0e.mat -l images:CHUNK=1x1000x2000
-Newmatic-partial, write: 2.888 s
-Newmatic-partial, read: 0.158 s
+</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Newmatic-partial, write: 2.987 s
+Newmatic-partial, read: 0.153 s
 </pre><h2 id="5">Complete read/write with newmatic</h2><p>To round out the comparison, let's read/write whole variables using newmatic</p><pre class="codeinput"><span class="comment">% get a temporary file name</span>
 newmatic_complete_file = [tempname, <span class="string">'.mat'</span>];
 newmatic_complete_cleanup = onCleanup(@() delete(newmatic_complete_file));
@@ -179,9 +178,8 @@
 
 <span class="comment">% get the file size</span>
 newmatic_complete_file_size = dir(newmatic_complete_file).bytes/1024/1024;
-</pre><pre class="codeoutput">h5repack -i /tmp/tp1713a51c_f6d8_4f4c_8639_fca9af5e6594.mat -o /tmp/tp9943cc43_35e2_4cb4_aa30_a39d7a1c3386.mat -l images:CHUNK=1x1000x2000
-Newmatic-complete, write: 3.151 s
-Newmatic-complete, read: 0.709 s
+</pre><pre class="codeoutput">Newmatic-complete, write: 3.183 s
+Newmatic-complete, read: 0.715 s
 </pre><h2 id="6">Comparison</h2><p>To make the comparison a bit easier, check out the tabulated results below:</p><pre class="codeinput">results = table(<span class="keyword">...</span>
     round([native_complete_write_time; newmatic_complete_write_time; native_partial_write_time; newmatic_partial_write_time], 2), <span class="keyword">...</span>
     round([native_complete_read_time; newmatic_complete_read_time; native_partial_read_time; newmatic_partial_read_time], 2), <span class="keyword">...</span>
@@ -193,10 +191,10 @@
 </pre><pre class="codeoutput">                         write-time-seconds    read-time-seconds    file-size-MB
                          __________________    _________________    ____________
 
-    native-complete             3.33                 0.73               95.53   
-    newmatic-complete           3.15                 0.71               95.53   
-    native-partial             52.34                 4.13              116.33   
-    newmatic-partial            2.89                 0.16               95.82   
+    native-complete             3.26                 0.72               95.53   
+    newmatic-complete           3.18                 0.72               95.53   
+    native-partial             52.36                  3.7              116.33   
+    newmatic-partial            2.99                 0.15                95.4   
 
 </pre><p class="footer"><br><a href="https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/">Published with MATLAB&reg; R2019b</a><br></p></div><!--
 ##### SOURCE BEGIN #####
diff --git a/logo.png b/logo.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3dfd738
Binary files /dev/null and b/logo.png differ
diff --git a/logo.xcf b/logo.xcf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1787b6
Binary files /dev/null and b/logo.xcf differ
diff --git a/newmatic.m b/newmatic.m
index 13d0eda..cffcabc 100644
--- a/newmatic.m
+++ b/newmatic.m
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-function mat = newmatic(path, varargin)
-% function mat = newmatic(path, varargin)
+function mat = newmatic(out_file, varargin)
+% function mat = newmatic(out_file, varargin)
 % 
 % Create new MAT-file with allocated arrays and specified chunking
 %
 % Arguments:
-%   path: path to the output file to create, will fail if file exists
+%   out_file: path to the output file to create, will fail if file exists
 %   varargin: one or more variable definition structs, as created by 
 %       newmatic_variable(), see help for that function for more details
 %
@@ -13,57 +13,80 @@
 % % 
 
 % sanity checks
-validateattributes(path, {'char'}, {'nonempty'});
-assert(~isfile(path), 'newmatic:OverwriteError', 'Output file exists!');
-
-mat = matfile(path, 'Writable', true);
+validateattributes(out_file, {'char'}, {'nonempty'});
+assert(~isfile(out_file), 'newmatic:OverwriteError', 'Output file exists!');
 
+% filename for reference .mat, deleted on function exit
+ref_file = [tempname, '.mat'];
+ref_file_cleanup = onCleanup(@() delete(ref_file));
 
+ref_mat = matfile(ref_file, 'Writable', true);
 for ii = 1:length(varargin)
     var = varargin{ii};
-    allocate(mat, var.name, var.type, var.size);
-
+    allocate(ref_mat, var.name, var.type, var.size);
 end
+delete(ref_mat);
 
-h5repack(mat, varargin);  % TODO: replace with native version when ready
+% get file property lists from reference
+ref_fid = H5F.open(ref_file, 'H5F_ACC_RDONLY', 'H5P_DEFAULT');
+ref_fcpl = H5F.get_create_plist(ref_fid);
 
+% create new file (fail if exists)
+out_fcpl = H5P.copy(ref_fcpl);
+out_fid = H5F.create(out_file, 'H5F_ACC_EXCL', out_fcpl, 'H5P_DEFAULT');
 
-function h5repack(file_obj, vars)
-% Apply specified chunking using external utility h5repack
-%
-% note: requires h5repack be installed on system
-%
-% Arguments:
-%   file_obj: matfile object
-%   vars: one or more variable definition structs, as created by 
-%       newmatic_variable(), see help for that function for more details
-% %     
-path = file_obj.Properties.Source;
-
-chunk_args = {};
-for ii = 1:length(vars)
-    var = vars{ii};
+% copy over datasets (a.k.a., variables), applying chunking as needed
+for ii = 1:length(varargin)
+    var = varargin{ii};
+    
+    ref_ds_id = H5D.open(ref_fid, var.name);
+    
+    out_ds_cpl = H5P.copy(H5D.get_create_plist(ref_ds_id));
     if ~isempty(var.chunks)
-        chunks = var.chunks(end:-1:1);  % variable dimensions are inverted in HDF file by MATLAB
-        chunk_args{end+1} = sprintf('-l %s:CHUNK=%s', var.name, strjoin(string(chunks), 'x')); %#ok!
+        H5P.set_chunk(out_ds_cpl, flip(var.chunks))
     end
+    
+    out_ds_id = H5D.create(...
+        out_fid, ...
+        var.name, ...
+        H5D.get_type(ref_ds_id), ...
+        H5D.get_space(ref_ds_id), ...
+        out_ds_cpl);
+    
+    % note: assume that only this one attribute exists (cribbed from manual inspection of files
+    %   created by matfile function)
+    ref_attr_id = H5A.open(ref_ds_id, 'MATLAB_class');
+    
+    out_attr_id = H5A.create(...
+        out_ds_id, ...
+        'MATLAB_class', ...
+        H5A.get_type(ref_attr_id), ...
+        H5A.get_space(ref_attr_id), ...
+        'H5P_DEFAULT');
+    H5A.write(out_attr_id, 'H5ML_DEFAULT', H5A.read(ref_attr_id));
+    
+    H5A.close(ref_attr_id);
+    H5A.close(out_attr_id);
+
+    H5D.close(ref_ds_id);    
+    H5D.close(out_ds_id);
+    
 end
 
-if ~isempty(chunk_args)
+H5F.close(ref_fid);
+H5F.close(out_fid);
 
-    temp_file = [tempname, '.mat'];
-    
-    args = [{'h5repack', '-i', path, '-o', temp_file}, chunk_args];
-    cmd = strjoin(args, ' ');
-    fprintf('%s\n', cmd);
-   
-    status = system(cmd);
-    assert(status == 0, 'Failed to update chunks with h5repack system utility');
+% copy over the userblock
+% read userblock from reference
+% note: the userblock is a binary header prefixed to the file, and is opaque to the HDF5
+%   library. It is also essential for MATLAB to believe us that this is a valid MAT file.
+ref_userblock = H5P.get_userblock(ref_fcpl);
+ref_map = memmapfile(ref_file);
+out_map = memmapfile(out_file, 'Writable', true);
+out_map.Data(1:ref_userblock) = ref_map.Data(1:ref_userblock);
+
+mat = matfile(out_file, 'Writable', true);
 
-    status = movefile(temp_file, path);
-    assert(status == 1, 'Failed to overwrite original file');
-end
-    
 
 function allocate(file_obj, var_name, data_type, dimensions)
 % function allocate(file_obj, var_name, data_type, dimensions)
@@ -76,6 +99,7 @@ function allocate(file_obj, var_name, data_type, dimensions)
 %   var_name: string, name of variable to allocate in matfile
 %   dimensions: 1D array, size of variable to allocate
 % %
+if isempty(dimensions); dimensions = [1, 1]; end 
 
 switch data_type
     
@@ -99,11 +123,6 @@ function allocate(file_obj, var_name, data_type, dimensions)
         error('Bad value for data_type: %s', data_type);
 end
 
-if ~isempty(dimensions) 
-    file_obj.(var_name) = empty(zeros(size(dimensions)));
-    dimensions = num2cell(dimensions);
-    file_obj.(var_name)(dimensions{:}) = last;
-else
-    % handle unspecified size by creating an empty array of the correct type
-    file_obj.(var_name) = empty();
-end
+file_obj.(var_name) = empty(zeros(size(dimensions)));
+dimensions = num2cell(dimensions);
+file_obj.(var_name)(dimensions{:}) = last;